I suspect that it will surprise none of you that I have been dabbling in digital art again. As much as I love the traditional arts, especially watercolor and sumi-e, there are times that making space and time to paint in is nigh impossible. In those times, I've been prone recently to tinkering with the fractal programs I can create in with the mere push of a button... after some lengthy setting up so they look as I wish.
Recently, however, I've been wanting to draw, so I was going back to my little fat sketchbook at lunch, and doodling, but it still wasn't quite what I wanted. Yesterday's header photo, while I'm happy with the lineart of the nurse log, lacks a certain something.
Color.
I've been craving color.
I wanted to paint, but it was eluding me. Finally, I started to dabble with a new art app, and to my amazement, it allows me to create almost as if I were holding a pencil in my hands. Actually, part of that is because I was holding a pencil.
"House Finch" sketch in ArtRage
Does that sketch not look like it was done with pencil on linen paper? It wasn't. It was done on an iPad with the ArtRage app, while I was working from a reference photo (one of my own, I've included it below). I've barely tapped into the app's capabilities, but even if all I ever do is use the two tools I've highlighted with the sketch and finished work below, it's more than worth the $4.99 price tag.
I haven't yet tried ArtRage for Android, but I do know that I've never been able to get this level of precision and delicacy with any of the styluses I've tried in the past. The Apple Pencil was expensive, but totally worth the entry cost. Well, ok, if I can figure out how to sell art, it'll pay for itself. Otherwise it's a costly toy. Albeit one that makes me very very happy with the results of being able to draw and paint without the muss and fuss.
"House Finch"
The finished "House Finch" took me a total of about 2 hours to sketch (about an hour on the initial sketch) and paint. Part of the time in there was learning how best to adjust my tool settings. The work above is four layers (sketch, two layers of bird color, and one layer of background greenery) and only two tools: pencil and airbrush. Being able to use the pressure sensitivity to control stroke width like a paintbrush was a revelation.
I'm not a great artist. I never will be - like I told someone yesterday, I'm not talented, I'm stubborn. I wanted to be able to express some of the beauty I see in the world around me, so I learned how to draw and paint and I practiced until I started to be happy with the results. There are so many mediums in the world. You can make art with crayons - heck, I've seen videos of great art made with spray paint, finger paint, and unlikely sculptural elements like silverware. You don't have to be able to draw in order to make art. You just have to be too stubborn to admit to yourself that you can't do it, because that would be a lie. You can. You just have to find your medium.
Digital art will probably never fill all of my desire to paint, but I love the results with this app, and I haven't even started to play with the watercolor and oil and other tools that are... well, there's a glitter tool. You know I'm going to do something with the glitter tool.
reference photo: House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), taken in Franklin OH in Spring 2016
The entry cost for ArtRage is low enough you don't need to be a serious artist to take the plunge. You just need to want to take your tablet or phone doodles to the next level, and maybe three or four past that. Highly recommended.